Unexpected title match
Southemoreland to face N. Catholic
Southmoreland girls basketball coach Brian Pritts described winning a WPIAL championship as a telescopic goal this season. Now, it’s right in front of his team.
The undefeated Scotties (24-0) kept their dream season alive by handling Central Valley, 64-51, in a WPIAL Class 4A semifinal Monday night at Peters Township.
Next up will be a game against one of the most-storied programs in the WPIAL and the state in North Catholic. The Scotties and Trojanettes play at 7 p.m. Friday at Petersen Event Center for the 4A crown. It will be the first appearance in the championship game in Southmoreland’s history. The Trojanettes, on the other hand, are vying for a fourth consecutive title.
“We had that telescopic goal that this was out there,” said Pritts. “I try and reel it back in every day and look through a microscope to see what we need to do to potentially get there.”
Freshmen Olivia Cernuto led all scorers with 23 points. Erika Sherbony and Charity Henderson tallied nine points each, while Gracie Spadaro and Sarah Pisula chipped in eight apiece for the Scotties, who went eight players deep.
“What I really love about these girls is it seems when the challenge gets bigger, they keep rising up to it,” said Pritts.
The Scotties came out firing. Cernuto and Pisula each nailed a pair of 3-pointers during a 20-point first quarter. That helped the Scotties build a 36-18 lead at halftime.
“We knew we had to come out strong,” said Cernuto. “We couldn’t be lazy, we had to focused. This was a very important game, and we knew that. We really needed that. It kept our energy up and helped us to keep believing in ourselves.”
The Warriors cut into the Southmoreland lead several times in the fourth quarter, but were turned back each time. The closest the Warriors got was eight points. On four separate occasions, they made it a 10-point game.
Allyson Kirby led Central Valley (18-4) with 22 points, followed by Christiane Frye with 19.
Other semifinal
One of the smallest players on the North Hills court
Monday night was huge for North Catholic.
Emma Pospisil is a 5-foot5 senior guard who averages only 8.0 points a game, but she was much better than average and helped North Catholic defeat Blackhawk, 71-51, at North Hills. The win gives North Catholic a chance to become only the sixth girls team in WPIAL history to win four consecutive championships.
Pospisil scored 17 points for North Catholic (23-1). She made 6 of 9 shots from the field and was 4 of 7 from 3point range.
“She was huge because they came out in a triangleand-two defense and she made some really big shots — in the second half, too,”
North Catholic coach Molly Rottmann said. “She’s been big at times this year and she’s happy to do whatever role we need. She was what we needed her to be in this game and that was mentally tough.”
Tess Myers, a senior guard who averages 16 points a game, was a little off in her shooting, making only 7 of 17 shots, despite finishing with 21 points.
North Catholic led at halftime, 33-30, but the Trojanettes’ shooting in the second half, coupled with Blackhawk’s lack of marksmanship, turned the game. In the first 13 minutes of the second half, North Catholic made 10 of 19 field-goal attempts and 5 of 8 3-pointers. Blackhawk (20-4) made 5 of 19 field goals in the same time period and was 0 of 8 behind the arc.
“We were standing on the perimeter in the first half, settling for one pass and a shot,” Rottmann said. “I said, ‘We’re going to have to get to the hoop, hit the seams and, if they help, kick it out.’ ”
Blackhawk trailed, 44-40, late in the third quarter, but North Catholic went on a 182 run to open up a 62-42 lead.
Senior guard Mackenzie Amalia led Blackhawk with 22 points, but North Catholic made it tough on Amalia, who made only 8 of 23 shots, including 1 of 11 from 3-point range.